Changeable exhibitor



July s. 1924. v 1,500,896

J. F. RYAN CHANGEABLE EXHIBITOR Filed Sept. 2l. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet l `\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ww i \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ww S PAC INVENTUR WITNESS:

ATTORN EY July 8 1924. 1,500,896

J. F. RYAN CHANGEABLE EXHIBITOR Filed Sept. 2l. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESS:

ATTORNEY Patented July Y8, 1924.

- rinsure i ser JOHN F. RYAN, or HUN'rINcrroN, wnsr vIiaeINIay CHANefnfiiarfsy EXHIBITOR.;

Application led. September 21,1923..l Serial No. 664,073.

- To all 'whom t may con-cern:

on the sides and spaced from the faces A2() ing its Be it known that I, JOHN F. RYAN, a citizen' of the United States, residing at Huntington, in the county of Cabell and State of Vest Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvementsv in Changeable Exhibitors, of which the following is a specification. Y, Y This invention has reference to an advertising dev-ice.

An object is the production of a device of this character in which cards containing advertising matter will be successively presented to view.

A further object vertising device that includes a housing hav faces provided with diagonally' disposed. sight openings and divided by' cleats thereof k into an upper and a Ylower compartment, each of which vhaving cards to i .be displayedtherein and said cards being arranged in suitable frames,the `cards in the lower compartment fully. filling the same, the cards in the upper compartmentV being one less in number. than those in the lower compartment whereby the diagonally Opposed end cards in the respective compartments will be shifted from one to the other compartment by the turning of the housing, the means for turning the housing being such as to sustain said housing against movement .for a considerable period of time when the cards therein are in display position.

. To the attainment of the vforegoing and other objects which will present themselves as the nature `of the invention is better understood, reference is to be had to the drawings which accompany and which form part of this application.l

, In the drawings Figure 1 is a front elevation of the improvement.

Figure 2 is `an end elevation vthereof with parts broken away. p Y

. Figure 3 is an approximately central ver- :ticallslongitudinal sectional view through the housing. v

-Figure 4 is a fragmentaryplan view of the kbase of the improvement to illustrate the drive means which rotates theY housing.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary elevationV of one of the hollow standards toillustrate the stop means which momentarily halts the turning of the housing.

is to produce an ard-A 'shaft 19. 419 there is a fixed sleeve or collar 24 that Figure 6 is a perspective view of one of the card carrying frames. l j w Figure 7 is a sectional view approximately on the line 7-7' of Figure 4. VFigure 8 is a fragmentary sectional view approximately on the line 8-8 of Figure 7.

As disclosed by the drawings l make use of asubstantially rectangular hollow base 1. The base has hinged'to the open top thereof a ianged cover 2, suitable means 3' being employed for holding the cover inclosed position. On the top of thel cover 2there is centrally arranged a hollow longitudinally extending vprojection 4 from whose endsy there arise hollow standards 5 and-6 respectively. The outer faces of the standards vare open, but are closed by removable plates 7 respectively. Y I. Y

I n the base 1 there is secured a suit-able casing 8 on which is mounted an electrically driven motor'Q.` The motor has its shaft, 1

flexible shaft ll'connected by a coupling 12 :i

to ashaft 13 which is journaled in bearings lin a box-like housing 14. rhe shaft 13 has secured thereon a wormY wheel 15 which meshes with a worm arranged therebelow and securedon a shaft 16 which has its ends journaled in bearings in the ends of the housing 14. On the said` shaft 16 there is .a worm wheel 17 in mesh with a worm gear 18 on a shaft 19 whichis also )ournaled Yin suitable bearings in the .housing and which projects through one end thereof.

`Loosely ournaled on the shaft 19,/ in a line with the `center of the standard 6 there is a sprocket wheel 20. The wheel 2O has on one of its faces a lpin -21 which is in the path of contact withk a similar pin 22 se-V cured on a sleeve 23 that is fixed on the On the outer end of the shaft has attached thereto one end of a coiled-` spring 25, the v`opposite end of the said spring being arranged at an angle and let into the sprocket wheel 2O.v By an arrange- ,ment as above set forth it will benoted that the speed imparted by the motor shaft to the shaft 19 is greatly reduced, and thear- `rangement of the spring 25 in connection with the rsprocket wheel serves as a shock absorber for 'he sprocketwheel 20and elemeats assoatcd therewith when the card.

- contact.

positely spaced projecting shoulders 30 and 31 respectively. On the chain 26 there are outstanding pins 32 in the path of contact with thesaid shoulders 30 or 31 and whereby t-he stub shaft 27 will be turned by such The-stub shaft 27 is fixed centrally to one side of a frame-like structure which, for

convenience, I will hereinafter refer to as a housing. The housing is broadly indicated by the numeral 33, and has on its side directly opposite that provided with the stub shaft 27, a second stub shaft 34. -This stub shaft finds a bearing in the standard 5, and has, as illustrated by Figure 5, keyed thereon a cam wheel 35. The cam wheel has two opposed flat faces designedfor engagemnet by the upright arm v36 of a spring member. The second angle arm of the spring member is iiXedto a block 36 secured between the sides of the standard 5. The frictional contact. of the spring 36 with the referred lo fiat faces of the cam 35 is regulated by an adjustable element 37 which is preferably inthe nature of a headed bolt having its outer end in contact with one of the sides of the standard 5, and having screwed thereon a nut 38 that contacts with what may be termed the outer face of the spring 36.

The hollow frame or housing 33 has one of its faces closed by a hinged door or frame 38 secured in closed position on the housing proper by latching means 39. The door 38 provides one ofl the faces of the housing. yThe opposed open faces of the housing are ,covered by transparent plates 40 and 4l.

respectively. n The plates in turn for a distance greater than one-half of the length thereof are covered by non-transparent sheets 42 and 43 respectively. These sheets are arranged at diagonally opposed positions so that the transparent plates 40 and 4l extending therebeyond provide diagonally opposed sight openings on the opposed faces of the housing.

rThe ends, and if desired, the inner sides ofthe housing have arranged thereon compressible strips 44 which provide cushion elements for frames 45 that have removably K arranged therein cards 46 containing advertising matter. In this connection it might be well to state that the cards in the frame may illustrate views of important places in cities, photographs, or in fact, any picture which may prove o-f interest to the spectators so that the device is not necessarily restricted to use as an advertising medium.

The hollow housing 33 has centrally secured upon its inner sides cleats 45. These cleats project longitudinally only a slight distance from the said sides of the housing and are spaced away from the faces thereof. The distance between the faces and the edges of the cleats is slightly in excess of the thickn ness of the frames 45.

Assume the housing to be in vertical position, as disclosed in Figure 3 of the drawings, it will be noted that the frames 45 fill the lower compartment of the said hous ing, while the number of frames in the upper compartment is only one less than that in the lower comp-artment. It will bey also observed that one of the end frames in the upper compartment is partly projected through the passage provide between the cleats 45 and the face 4l of the housing, and that this frame rest-s upon the end frame in the lower compartment. .It will be further observed that the outer end frame in the lower compartment is in a position to travel through the passage 47 between the face 40 and the cleats 45.

The operation of the device may be briefly described as follows:

Incident to the intermeshing gears between the shaft 19 and the motor shaft, the first mentioned shaft will be turned at a comparatively slow speed. When the chain 26 is turned to bring one of its fingers 34 against one of the shoulders of tliecam wheel 29 the latter will be turned one-half a revolution which, of course, turns the stub shaft 27 to revolve the housinff 33. This reverses the relative position of the compartments of the housing and shifts the frames 45, so that the outer card, indicated for distinction by 49 in Figure 3 of the drawings and which was at display posit-ion, to move through the passage 47 into the adjacent compartment, and causes the remaining cards in the first mentioned compartment to move or shift so that the card next to the card 49 will assume the position previously occupied by said card 49. In a like manner the card in the upper compartment next to the face 4l of the housing, indicated in F igure 3 by the numeral 50, will slide into what was termed the lower compartment. This operation is continuous as long as the housing is turned, so that all of the cards will be separately brought to display position and held in such position for Va length of time equalling the period oftravel of the next pin 32 on the chain 26 for contacting engagement with the neXt shoulder on the cam wheel 29. To compensate for the shock incident to the pin leaving the shoulder on the cam wheel, the spring 26 is employed, the said spring being in the nature 0f a of the cam wheel 35 is utilized.

The construction, operation, advantages as well as the simplicity of my improvement will, it is thought, be apparent from the foregoing disclosure, but it is to be understood that I have herein set forth Vonly a satisfactory exempliiication thereof and that I hold myself entitled to resort to all such changes and modificationsas fall within the scope of what I claim.

Having described the invention, I claim:

1. In a device for the purpose set forth, a base having hollow standardsV thereon, a housing having trunnions journaled in the standards, said housing divided into communicating compartments having c cards therein shiftable upon the turning -thereof and the diagonally opposed end cards movable from one into the other compartment on such turning, a cam on' one of the trunnions having opposed flat faces, vspring means engaging therewith when the housing is sustained in upright position, a freely mounted sprocket wheel on the second trunf nion, a cam wheel fixed on said trunnion, a

motor in the base, shafts driven thereby, means reducing the speed of the outer shaft,

a sprocket wheel carried thereby, a sprocket chain trained therearound and around the l'irst mentioned sprocket wheel, and said chain having outstanding pins to engage the last mentioned cam to revolve the housin In a device for the purpose set forth, a base having hollow standards thereon, a housing having trunnions journaled in the standards, said housing divided into communicating compartments having cards therein shiftable upon the turning thereof and the diagonally opposed end cards movable from one into the other compartment on such turning, a cam on -one of the trunnions having opposed flat faces, spring means en-V gaging therewith when the housing is sustained in upright position, a freely mounted sprocket wheel on the second trunnion, a cam wheel fixed on said trunnion, a motor in the base, shafts driven thereby, means reducing the speed of the outer shaft, a sprocket wheel carried thereby, a sprocket chain trained therearound and around the first mentioned sprocket wheel, said chain having outstanding pinsto engage the last mentioned cam to revolve the housing, and means between the second mentioned sprocket wheel and the shaft therefor for absorbing the shock incident to the release of the pin from the cam wheel.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

JOHN F. RYAN. 

